Let me guess, your e-mails have gotten out of control. You get distracted quickly because an e-mail comes in and as a result, your work is taking longer than you had originally thought. You have begun to have a love/hate relationship with e-mail.
It’s completely understandable these days we get so many e-mail messages during the day that it becomes overwhelming. More e-mails pour in every day and you never want to miss an important e-mail, but are starting to feel overwhelmed by the amount and want to make sure you’re also staying on task while devoting enough time to responding to important e-mails.
First, unless you have or work in a business where your only part in being there is to respond to e-mails, most e-mails do not need to be read as soon as they come in. In fact, studies show that every time you get distracted, whether from a phone call, someone stopping by your desk or an e-mail comes in, the average person gets off task for anywhere from 10-20 minutes. How often are your e-mails so important that stopping your work for that long is actually beneficial to your time? It’s probably not as often as you think. To help prevent such losses in time, schedule specific periods during your day to look at and respond to your e-mails. How often you do this depends upon how much e-mail you get and how much you need to respond to them.
If you fear that not responding immediately will cause problems, start to let people you work with know that you will be looking at your e-mails during specific points of the day. Let your clients know as well. Then invite them to call you if there is an emergency, but otherwise, you’ll get back to them at the allotted time in the day. Always train people to know what to expect from you and it prevents unnecessary problems and/or breakdowns in communications. Most people can wait a few hours for a response.
When you do reach those points of the day where you are responding to e-mail, first go through the e-mails quickly one by one. Do not respond immediately to any of them. Create file folders for your incoming e-mails such as: research, respond to within 1 week, respond to within 1 day, keep, etc. These different file folders can be set out to work for the types of typical e-mails you receive daily. Once you have put your e-mails into their respective folders, go through those e-mails you perceived to need an immediate response and get them out of the way. Also, set up and utilize your junk folder to filter out unwanted e-mails.
Again, any time you are in the middle of a task and you take a moment to look at an e-mail, it will take you 10-20 minutes to get your brain back on task. If you receive many e-mails during the day, this habit will create problems with getting your work done on time, keeping you working later hours than are needed, leads to exhaustion, stress and less time to concentrate on other things. By setting specific points during the day, such as at 9:30 am, 12:30 pm and 4:30 pm to look over, sort and respond to e-mail then you have made a date with yourself to handle e-mail, but are not a slave to handling everything that comes in when it comes in.
Sorting quickly through your e-mails helps you to quickly assess what needs to be looked at immediately and what can wait. By assigning certain items to be worked on later when you have more time and those that aren’t pressing matters, it allows you to have the time to devote yourself to work that is imperative. Sorting your e-mails into categories allows you to prioritize your work and makes it simpler and less overwhelming to deal with. The file folders also make it much easier to find e-mails in the future.
Always make sure you delete items you no longer need on a daily basis. If you aren’t sure, create another file folder to hold on to items you may need to find later on. However, your inbox should only carry items that need to be addressed immediately or those items you have not yet sorted through.
I hope this helps to begin the process of learning how to live without instant e-mail gratification. If you have a ton of e-mails to sort through, do a little at a time or you’ll never get it done. Ask your assistant to help filter e-mails for you as well. Lastly, if you feel you need additional help of a professional organizer or time management coach, contact Alison Kero at: 646-831-9625 or on her e-mail at: info@gothamconcierge.com. Consultations can be done in person in the NYC metro area or phone consultations are available nationwide. Lastly, if you trust and know of another professional organizer, contact them and make an appointment to get your time, space and life organized today. You’ll see and live the difference every day! Good luck!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Linking Similar Tasks Together to Save Time
Do you remember the
What I mean is that you’re more likely to remember where things are and where you keep them if you put similar things together. Put all your pots and pans together. Put all paper goods together. Schedule similar tasks at the same time so if you have tasks on your list that are similar in nature, do them together. Say you have 3 projects you’re working on and each project requires you to do some writing, some research and some number crunching. Schedule your time working on these projects not separately, but together. Schedule the writing for each project together, schedule the research for all 3 together and the same with the number crunching. Although they are separate projects, writing is writing and when the creative juices are flowing, it’s far easier to keep up momentum if you’re staying within the same task.
If you schedule one project at a time you’re instead jumping around far more than you would by scheduling these like tasks together. The best part for those of you who thrive on variety, you still get variety by scheduling your tasks this way because the nature of these projects will probably be different, but again, allowing yourself to work on virtually one task will help you to be far more productive.
Continuing to lump like things together, whether you’re organizing items in your home, projects you need to finish or tasks you need to accomplish will allow you to save time. You will know where your items are because you can relate the box of extra pens to the supply of paper and envelopes you placed with them. You have then saved yourself the time it would have taken to remember where you put them and the search it would have taken to locate the pens. You know where they are from now on because you placed them near similar items.
You can save time by lumping errands together that are near one another. If I have to schedule an appointment, go to the bank, pick up food and stop by the pharmacy, I know I can do these in one trip because I know that all of the places I need to go to finish these errands are nearby one other. I then plan to do them in practical order. I would first stop off at the pharmacy to drop off my prescription because I know it usually takes 30 minutes to fill. I then would stop by the bank to deposit a check because it’s the next location on my way to grab food. I then schedule my eye appointment because it’s next to the food shop, then grab my hot food and stop by the pharmacy, which was my first stop and closest to home on my way back.
Again, planning and scheduling a little ahead and lumping like things together will go a long way toward creating a more simple life, which will enable you to be more productive and use less time to accomplish your goals, tasks, errands and projects.
If you need help creating a process for your hectic schedule, creating an organizational scheme for your home or office, or how to get more time out of your life, contact me, Alison Kero at: 646-831-9625 or e-mail me at: info@gothamconcierge.com to schedule an in-person visit or phone consultation today. Best of luck organizing your time, space and life!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Learning to Say “NO” To Solve a Problem
Have you ever tried to accomplish a task that seemed to be problematic from the start? In my business that task was errand running. Unless I know the client, I can’t seem to finish a request without major problems arising, despite the fact that I’ve done my research and asked as many questions as I could prior to beginning.
It was after my last errand running task that I realized I was wasting a tremendous amount of my time and I needed to stop providing this service. The errand I had said yes to seemed simple enough, but ended up taking 2 days and never did get finished due to a whole host of unexpected complications. I had given the client a 4 hour quote, so I lost a fair amount of money on this unfinished task. I could have sat around and chastised myself for not accomplishing the errand for this new client and concentrating on how much time and money I wasted, but instead I realized something far more important and positive than beating myself up; I hate running errands. Worse than that; when calculating time spent to the money I earned, I was losing money each time!
What? Give up? Should I give up? Should I say no to errand running requests in the future? Was I being lazy, unhelpful, selfish, or a bad business owner? No! I was finally accepting the conclusion that I can’t be great at everything. I realized that not being great at everything was more than okay, it was normal. What wasn’t okay was continuing to say yes to requests I didn’t enjoy doing and I didn’t find rewarding. I can help people manage their time and I can help people get their homes and offices organized because I see the value in my time and theirs when I help them this way. I see no value when I’m trying to locate a red hot chili pepper or various parts to a wardrobe at Ikea.
I also realized I was wasting a tremendous amount of time and energy on a task I disliked, yet continued to say yes to similar requests. How many times have you continuously pushed yourself to be good at something you’re not? How much money have you spent trying to, “do it yourself” when you should have been hiring an expert? How much time have you wasted saying “yes” to something that is not within your area of expertise? How much money have you wasted by continuously saying “yes”?
When you have a task to perform always ask yourself, “do I like doing this,” “is it cost effective for me to perform this task” and “will it take less time to hire a professional”? If the answer is “yes” to all, then by all means go ahead and do that task! However, if you say no to 2 or more of those questions, then it’s time to outsource or say no.
If you have a task to perform at work, ask yourself if it’s worth it to continue doing that task. Is there someone else who can perform this task better than you? At a lower cost than your time is worth? Is this something you offer that perhaps you should walk away from?
Sometimes the best way to save time and money is to accept that you cannot do everything and you cannot do everything well. Then walk away and walk towards those things you do excel at, that you make money at and you enjoy doing. Sometimes saying “no” is the best time saver of all.
Although saying “no” is one of the things I teach in my time management seminar and tele-seminar’s, learning to use it effectively and often and with meaning is really difficult. I strive each day to use the powerful word “no” when I know it’s in my best interest, but that never means it’s easy to do. Practice makes it easier as does the feeling of empowerment I feel after I’ve said it.
The trick to saying no is figuring out what you want to do. Once you’ve figured that out, saying “yes” to what you want and “no” to what you don’t want it becomes much easier. I will be writing more on the subject of saying no to save time in the future since it’s a huge subject and there are many ways to use “no” effectively to get what you want, what you need and lower stress levels.
If you want to start making positive changes in your life to become more organized and in control of your time, join in on my monthly tele-seminar or contact me at: 646-831-9625 or info@gothamconcierge.com to learn about my in-person sessions or private phone consultations. Please visit my website at: http://www.gothamconcierge.com to learn more about how Gotham Concierge can help organize your time, space and life. Best of luck!
It was after my last errand running task that I realized I was wasting a tremendous amount of my time and I needed to stop providing this service. The errand I had said yes to seemed simple enough, but ended up taking 2 days and never did get finished due to a whole host of unexpected complications. I had given the client a 4 hour quote, so I lost a fair amount of money on this unfinished task. I could have sat around and chastised myself for not accomplishing the errand for this new client and concentrating on how much time and money I wasted, but instead I realized something far more important and positive than beating myself up; I hate running errands. Worse than that; when calculating time spent to the money I earned, I was losing money each time!
What? Give up? Should I give up? Should I say no to errand running requests in the future? Was I being lazy, unhelpful, selfish, or a bad business owner? No! I was finally accepting the conclusion that I can’t be great at everything. I realized that not being great at everything was more than okay, it was normal. What wasn’t okay was continuing to say yes to requests I didn’t enjoy doing and I didn’t find rewarding. I can help people manage their time and I can help people get their homes and offices organized because I see the value in my time and theirs when I help them this way. I see no value when I’m trying to locate a red hot chili pepper or various parts to a wardrobe at Ikea.
I also realized I was wasting a tremendous amount of time and energy on a task I disliked, yet continued to say yes to similar requests. How many times have you continuously pushed yourself to be good at something you’re not? How much money have you spent trying to, “do it yourself” when you should have been hiring an expert? How much time have you wasted saying “yes” to something that is not within your area of expertise? How much money have you wasted by continuously saying “yes”?
When you have a task to perform always ask yourself, “do I like doing this,” “is it cost effective for me to perform this task” and “will it take less time to hire a professional”? If the answer is “yes” to all, then by all means go ahead and do that task! However, if you say no to 2 or more of those questions, then it’s time to outsource or say no.
If you have a task to perform at work, ask yourself if it’s worth it to continue doing that task. Is there someone else who can perform this task better than you? At a lower cost than your time is worth? Is this something you offer that perhaps you should walk away from?
Sometimes the best way to save time and money is to accept that you cannot do everything and you cannot do everything well. Then walk away and walk towards those things you do excel at, that you make money at and you enjoy doing. Sometimes saying “no” is the best time saver of all.
Although saying “no” is one of the things I teach in my time management seminar and tele-seminar’s, learning to use it effectively and often and with meaning is really difficult. I strive each day to use the powerful word “no” when I know it’s in my best interest, but that never means it’s easy to do. Practice makes it easier as does the feeling of empowerment I feel after I’ve said it.
The trick to saying no is figuring out what you want to do. Once you’ve figured that out, saying “yes” to what you want and “no” to what you don’t want it becomes much easier. I will be writing more on the subject of saying no to save time in the future since it’s a huge subject and there are many ways to use “no” effectively to get what you want, what you need and lower stress levels.
If you want to start making positive changes in your life to become more organized and in control of your time, join in on my monthly tele-seminar or contact me at: 646-831-9625 or info@gothamconcierge.com to learn about my in-person sessions or private phone consultations. Please visit my website at: http://www.gothamconcierge.com to learn more about how Gotham Concierge can help organize your time, space and life. Best of luck!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Conquering the Influx of Mail – Paper
Mail seems to be one thing all my clients have in common. In fact, countless times, I’ve actually found checks hidden in unopened envelopes that have ranged from $1.00 to several thousand dollars. That’s money my clients didn’t know they had! Usually they like me a whole lot after that.
One of the reasons mail has become a hindrance is because there is simply too much of it. How much of your incoming paper mail is simply junk mail? Are you constantly getting mail from your financial institutions with blank checks or credit card offers? These are great if you need them, but could also be a huge liability. If your mail is stolen, you could very easily have your identity stolen. In a quick moment, you all of a sudden owe thousands of dollars that someone else spent. It’s also a great way to stop yourself from being tempted to spend money you don’t have. To easily opt out of these credit card offers once and for all visit this site to learn how: http://creditcards.lovetoknow.com/Request_Stopping_Offer_Credit_Card
Magazines are also a huge source of incoming mail. How many magazines can you truly read in 1 month? Do you find you are constantly behind on reading? Do you keep them thinking, “one day I’ll get to this?” I have one client who kept thinking he was going to get through a pile of dental magazines…. From 1985! Keep a strict limit on how many magazines you receive monthly, I limit myself to 8 for both personal and professional because I know that’s how many I can handle per month without feeling overwhelmed or getting behind. I also promptly move my magazine to the recycle bin after I receive the latest issue. If I see an article I want to keep, I tear out the article and toss the rest of the magazine, which saves a ton of space. Contact magazines you no longer read and ask them to remove you from their list. Contact companies who send you their catalogues and ask them to remove you from their list. You can almost always find their catalogue online.
Keep your shredder near the front door. If you keep the shredder far from where you place your mail, it becomes more difficult to shred unwanted mail as easily. Go through your mail immediately! Most people don’t deal with the mail right away and it grows into a large and often unmanageable pile. If you sort immediately and place all items you wish to keep in a basket, then you can immediately shred anything you know is waste. If you receive a ton of unwanted mail and wish to cut down on it, send a postcard or letter to Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association, PO Box 643, Carmel, NY 15012-0643 Include your complete name, address, zip code and a request to "activate the preference service". For up to five years, this will stop mail from all member organizations that you have not specifically ordered products from.
If you are comfortable, have your financial companies send you their invoices, bills and other information via e-mail. You can then easily create a folder for that mail, set payments up automatically and quickly lower the amount of time you spend paying bills and collecting paper.
Figuring out what papers are actually important and which ones can be tossed can be stressful. What if you toss something you actually needed? What do I need and what can I part with? The easiest way to figure this out is to turn to this site: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/bank/19990714a.asp which will tell you exactly what you need to keep and toss.
Once a year, at minimum all your paper items should be weeded through and anything that is no longer needed should be tossed or shredded. You can always create different filing systems if the one you currently have in place isn’t working for you. Do colors help you remember which files are kept where? Use colors! Does the name of a file throw you? Change it to something that works better.
Constantly assess what paper is coming into your home and whether or not you truly need it. After awhile, it becomes easier to figure out what you truly need and want to look at versus what can be dropped from your list of important mail. If you place limits on yourself for what you truly need and want to read, what charities you truly want to give to (versus those who guilted you into donating money) and learn to use the word, “no”, these processes become easier and more manageable for the busy life you lead.
If you have become overwhelmed with the amount of paper you currently have in your home and have no idea on how to start, please contact Alison Kero at 646-831-9625 or info@gothamconcierge.com. You can either schedule an at-home or in-office appointment in the NYC metro area or schedule a consultation via telephone to get your time, space and life organized.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Save Time & Lower Stress by Walking Away from a Frustrating Situation
Here’s yet another time saving tip I’ve learned through experience: if you’re trying to accomplish something and it’s not working, WALK AWAY FROM IT for the time being.
I spent the better part of the day with a client last week trying to simply copy a file from NeatWorks and transfer it to another computer so I could share those files with Quickbooks. It should have been easy. “Should” being the operative word. It wasn’t.
The file was too large and would have taken 9 hours to copy and e-mail through yousenditnow.com so we decided to burn a copy to a disk and transfer it that way. This should have been even easier, but for whatever reason, after spending 20 minutes watching the disk slowly burn the information, it did not have the latest updates. Since I am trying to share the receipts I have spent hours scanning so that my client can track her expenses through Quickbooks, I was looking forward to the end result and seeing how well those two products worked together.
It didn’t work. We could not transfer that file without a tremendous amount of time being taken up. Our decision in the end was to walk away from it and try another time. In this case we were lucky since there isn’t a deadline until April 15, 2010 but even if you are on a deadline, sometimes the best thing for you to do is to walk away, even for a brief time.
Continuing to try to solve a problem may not always be the best solution. You get tired, frustrated, cranky and sometimes fidgety. Sometimes you unconsciously keep trying the same process despite the fact that it hasn’t worked. Walking away lowers your stress levels and allows you some time to process what you have done, think about why it isn’t working correctly and to maybe figure out a way to solve the issue. Either way, coming back after even a 5 minute break can be tremendously helpful. You’re eliminating the old adage of, “beating the dead horse”. I hate to think how that saying came about.
Case-in-point: yesterday I was going through a huge file folder crammed with 6 months worth of receipts for a client. I spent 1 hour going through this and organizing them into 6 different categories. After an hour I thought I was going to go nuts. First, off, it’s not like you’re busting your brain, but it is mind numbing and tedious work. Secondly, sitting and organizing receipts for an hour gets uncomfortable. You need to take small breaks in order to continue the job. I decided to simply come back next week when my mind was fresh and finish the job. However, had I needed to finish then, I would have simply taken a 5 minute break, walked around the block and then would have been able to return feeling at least slightly more refreshed.
The moral is that walking away can lower your stress levels and help you think more clearly. In the end, I find that not concentrating so hard on solving something allows your brain time to process it and in the end, can actually save you time. And it’s always all about saving time and making your life easier.
If you have a tedious project you never quite get to, try doing them in smaller increments. Set aside 10 minutes and then walk away for awhile. You do not have to get any project done in one sitting, and frankly, I find doing jobs in smaller increments much easier and less stressful. If you can’t seem to get past the mental block of the project you need to accomplish or need help getting motivated, contact me at: info@gothamconcierge.com or call on my cell at: 646-831-9625. I provide phone consultations and at-home or in-office consultations as well. Good luck with your task!
I spent the better part of the day with a client last week trying to simply copy a file from NeatWorks and transfer it to another computer so I could share those files with Quickbooks. It should have been easy. “Should” being the operative word. It wasn’t.
The file was too large and would have taken 9 hours to copy and e-mail through yousenditnow.com so we decided to burn a copy to a disk and transfer it that way. This should have been even easier, but for whatever reason, after spending 20 minutes watching the disk slowly burn the information, it did not have the latest updates. Since I am trying to share the receipts I have spent hours scanning so that my client can track her expenses through Quickbooks, I was looking forward to the end result and seeing how well those two products worked together.
It didn’t work. We could not transfer that file without a tremendous amount of time being taken up. Our decision in the end was to walk away from it and try another time. In this case we were lucky since there isn’t a deadline until April 15, 2010 but even if you are on a deadline, sometimes the best thing for you to do is to walk away, even for a brief time.
Continuing to try to solve a problem may not always be the best solution. You get tired, frustrated, cranky and sometimes fidgety. Sometimes you unconsciously keep trying the same process despite the fact that it hasn’t worked. Walking away lowers your stress levels and allows you some time to process what you have done, think about why it isn’t working correctly and to maybe figure out a way to solve the issue. Either way, coming back after even a 5 minute break can be tremendously helpful. You’re eliminating the old adage of, “beating the dead horse”. I hate to think how that saying came about.
Case-in-point: yesterday I was going through a huge file folder crammed with 6 months worth of receipts for a client. I spent 1 hour going through this and organizing them into 6 different categories. After an hour I thought I was going to go nuts. First, off, it’s not like you’re busting your brain, but it is mind numbing and tedious work. Secondly, sitting and organizing receipts for an hour gets uncomfortable. You need to take small breaks in order to continue the job. I decided to simply come back next week when my mind was fresh and finish the job. However, had I needed to finish then, I would have simply taken a 5 minute break, walked around the block and then would have been able to return feeling at least slightly more refreshed.
The moral is that walking away can lower your stress levels and help you think more clearly. In the end, I find that not concentrating so hard on solving something allows your brain time to process it and in the end, can actually save you time. And it’s always all about saving time and making your life easier.
If you have a tedious project you never quite get to, try doing them in smaller increments. Set aside 10 minutes and then walk away for awhile. You do not have to get any project done in one sitting, and frankly, I find doing jobs in smaller increments much easier and less stressful. If you can’t seem to get past the mental block of the project you need to accomplish or need help getting motivated, contact me at: info@gothamconcierge.com or call on my cell at: 646-831-9625. I provide phone consultations and at-home or in-office consultations as well. Good luck with your task!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
How to Overcome Being a Slob
Have you ever been called a slob? Do people cringe at your office space or decline invitations to your home because of the absolute mess? Have you ever wondered why you can’t seem to create a more organized environment?
I have a client I have worked with periodically over the years whom I consider to be a slob. I have found countless change, cigarette butts, dirt, hair, kitchen ware (like knives) and pieces of paper strewn about her floor. I have been unable to take even a step inside her large walk-in closet because of the many piles of things she has thrown in there which blocked the entryway. I have found birthday gifts still in their bags from her birthday that had passed a year and a half ago. I have found the mates to shoes, clothing she had been looking for, and a bathing suit inside a shoebox.
Being called a slob isn’t something anyone wants to hear about themselves. It isn’t as though you don’t care or aren’t trying, you just haven’t come up with solutions to help create a more organized and clean apartment. I want to share some tips with you today which I have suggested to my client on how to get more organized and save yourself some time.
There are usually two reasons someone becomes a slob. First, your parents were also slobs and you grew up in that environment. You may not have noticed anything was wrong until later when you realized you had never been taught any organizational skills. In this case, my client had parents who were not considered well organized and she may have learned that from them.
Second, there are underlying psychological reasons why you are living in a chaotic and often unclean mess. Since I am not a licensed psychologist, I won’t give out advice except to say perhaps talking to someone to help you feel better about yourself will help you feel you deserve to live in a clean organized environment. I wish you the best of luck. I will say that in the case of my client, who is obese, a smoker and rarely exercises but has a job where she takes care of everyone else’s needs (and I see her caretaking her friends and family constantly), this is a woman who can help everyone but herself and nothing will change until she recognizes that and slowly starts making a change to start treating herself with respect and takes care of her needs.
However, there are still tricks of the trade to help you keep your home or work place in better condition. The first is to hire a cleaning company or person to come in and clean for you! Quite obviously this is either something you do not enjoy or may not be good at. That’s okay – not everyone enjoys cleaning, but thankfully cleaning services can be pretty reasonable and you may find yourself keeping your place cleaner.
I also witnessed another client who finally had her home cleaned and it completely unnerved her and set her off. She couldn’t handle cleaning people coming in and touching anything and within a day, the home had become filthy again. Disorganization and dirt actually made this woman feel safer for whatever reason. If this is you, discovering what is inside you that won’t allow you to live in a clean, healthy environment is necessary before you can make positive changes.
My second suggestion is to use shelves and baskets to place things in. Have them near your door along with a coat rack or hooks. This makes it much easier to find items and you’re more likely to remain a bit more organized if you don’t have to walk far to place items away. Throw your shoes in a basket – at least you know where to find them. Throw your extra change into a glass jar placed on that shelf. Stick your purse on a hook or the shelf. Just make sure you periodically go through the baskets to keep them organize and free of overflow. Also, do not buy huge baskets – they aren’t useful if they are so large you can keep your entire wardrobe in them.
Respect yourself and put in a little time on your home. I’m not saying a lot of time, you are a busy person. I am asking to commit to 15 minutes a day and center on just one corner or one drawer or one cabinet to keep organized. If 15 minutes aren’t working – try 5. At least you know you have done 5 minutes. Clean an area during commercials when watching tv. That way you know you only have to for a few minutes but you’re getting stuff done. I vacuum during commercials, dust, do a few dishes. It makes the process a lot easier and kind of fun! How much can I get done during a 2 minute break?
Buy a shredder! Mail seems to be most of my client’s biggest challenge. Have a shredder near your door and as you go through your mail, toss them in the shredder if they are junk mail. Or place it in your living room and shred during a commercial break.
Set up automatic payment for your bills. Have those bills e-mailed to you instead of creating more paper. You can just keep them in your inbox, or choose to file them in a separate folder, but clicking a mouse is easier than physically pulling out a folder. Go electronic, save a tree and save yourself some time!
Make sure you take the time to reward yourself for taking the time to get yourself organized. Treat yourself even if you’ve taken 5 minutes to organize that day! Learn to respect yourself and treat yourself well. Rewarding yourself may seem foreign at first, but you deserve to treat yourself to something you like because you tried.
I wish you the best of luck on getting a bit organized and saving time. Trust me, with just these few ideas, they’ll help you to figure out where things are and will save you a ton of time when locating your items. Should you require additional organization help, I am available for phone consultations or, if you live in the NYC area, will come to your home and work with you to create a more organized, peaceful environment which you deserve to live in. Contact Alison Kero at: info@gothamconcierge.com or on her cell at: 646-831-9625. I do not judge your home or you, I am only pleased you have the courage to ask for help and take the first steps towards a more organized, harmonious life.
I have a client I have worked with periodically over the years whom I consider to be a slob. I have found countless change, cigarette butts, dirt, hair, kitchen ware (like knives) and pieces of paper strewn about her floor. I have been unable to take even a step inside her large walk-in closet because of the many piles of things she has thrown in there which blocked the entryway. I have found birthday gifts still in their bags from her birthday that had passed a year and a half ago. I have found the mates to shoes, clothing she had been looking for, and a bathing suit inside a shoebox.
Being called a slob isn’t something anyone wants to hear about themselves. It isn’t as though you don’t care or aren’t trying, you just haven’t come up with solutions to help create a more organized and clean apartment. I want to share some tips with you today which I have suggested to my client on how to get more organized and save yourself some time.
There are usually two reasons someone becomes a slob. First, your parents were also slobs and you grew up in that environment. You may not have noticed anything was wrong until later when you realized you had never been taught any organizational skills. In this case, my client had parents who were not considered well organized and she may have learned that from them.
Second, there are underlying psychological reasons why you are living in a chaotic and often unclean mess. Since I am not a licensed psychologist, I won’t give out advice except to say perhaps talking to someone to help you feel better about yourself will help you feel you deserve to live in a clean organized environment. I wish you the best of luck. I will say that in the case of my client, who is obese, a smoker and rarely exercises but has a job where she takes care of everyone else’s needs (and I see her caretaking her friends and family constantly), this is a woman who can help everyone but herself and nothing will change until she recognizes that and slowly starts making a change to start treating herself with respect and takes care of her needs.
However, there are still tricks of the trade to help you keep your home or work place in better condition. The first is to hire a cleaning company or person to come in and clean for you! Quite obviously this is either something you do not enjoy or may not be good at. That’s okay – not everyone enjoys cleaning, but thankfully cleaning services can be pretty reasonable and you may find yourself keeping your place cleaner.
I also witnessed another client who finally had her home cleaned and it completely unnerved her and set her off. She couldn’t handle cleaning people coming in and touching anything and within a day, the home had become filthy again. Disorganization and dirt actually made this woman feel safer for whatever reason. If this is you, discovering what is inside you that won’t allow you to live in a clean, healthy environment is necessary before you can make positive changes.
My second suggestion is to use shelves and baskets to place things in. Have them near your door along with a coat rack or hooks. This makes it much easier to find items and you’re more likely to remain a bit more organized if you don’t have to walk far to place items away. Throw your shoes in a basket – at least you know where to find them. Throw your extra change into a glass jar placed on that shelf. Stick your purse on a hook or the shelf. Just make sure you periodically go through the baskets to keep them organize and free of overflow. Also, do not buy huge baskets – they aren’t useful if they are so large you can keep your entire wardrobe in them.
Respect yourself and put in a little time on your home. I’m not saying a lot of time, you are a busy person. I am asking to commit to 15 minutes a day and center on just one corner or one drawer or one cabinet to keep organized. If 15 minutes aren’t working – try 5. At least you know you have done 5 minutes. Clean an area during commercials when watching tv. That way you know you only have to for a few minutes but you’re getting stuff done. I vacuum during commercials, dust, do a few dishes. It makes the process a lot easier and kind of fun! How much can I get done during a 2 minute break?
Buy a shredder! Mail seems to be most of my client’s biggest challenge. Have a shredder near your door and as you go through your mail, toss them in the shredder if they are junk mail. Or place it in your living room and shred during a commercial break.
Set up automatic payment for your bills. Have those bills e-mailed to you instead of creating more paper. You can just keep them in your inbox, or choose to file them in a separate folder, but clicking a mouse is easier than physically pulling out a folder. Go electronic, save a tree and save yourself some time!
Make sure you take the time to reward yourself for taking the time to get yourself organized. Treat yourself even if you’ve taken 5 minutes to organize that day! Learn to respect yourself and treat yourself well. Rewarding yourself may seem foreign at first, but you deserve to treat yourself to something you like because you tried.
I wish you the best of luck on getting a bit organized and saving time. Trust me, with just these few ideas, they’ll help you to figure out where things are and will save you a ton of time when locating your items. Should you require additional organization help, I am available for phone consultations or, if you live in the NYC area, will come to your home and work with you to create a more organized, peaceful environment which you deserve to live in. Contact Alison Kero at: info@gothamconcierge.com or on her cell at: 646-831-9625. I do not judge your home or you, I am only pleased you have the courage to ask for help and take the first steps towards a more organized, harmonious life.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Getting Things Done When Your Mind Wanders
There are many people who tend to start 6 projects at once because their mind tends to wander off. There are many reasons why this happens which I won't go into because I am not a psychiatrist and it really doesn't matter for this blog to be effective.
First, it's important to recognize this may be a habit you have. I know I can do this if I'm not paying attention to the task at hand. Once I got so excited after a feng shui for the bedroom course I took, I managed to start changing 4 different areas in my bedroom and hallway and managed to block the entryway. That was when I realized I had to stick to one corner/one task and then continue on to the next one or I would continue to get in my own way. Having a glass of wine while working on this project may have contributed to my blocking my entryway and starting too many projects at once, but it was a nice glass of wine and I don't regret it.
Many people find it difficult to concentrate on one task for a long period of time. Again, there are various reasons I won't get into, but to make sure you actually do get your work done and accomplish the goals you have set for yourself, there are tricks to help you stay on task.
1. Use a timer. Set it for 15 minutes or 30 minutes and do only one thing for that time period. You may not finish your task, but you will have a least gotten some of it done. Then you can start on something else or choose to continue with the task you started.
2. If even 15 minutes is too hard at first, try 5 minutes. The whole point is to start to work on something - even if it's 5 minutes of research for a paper or 5 minutes of sorting your mail, you've done at least 5 minutes!
3. Take baby steps - no one is expecting perfection right from the start and neither should you. If we all did things perfectly the first time out it would be boring and who likes boring?
4. Put it on your calendar! Make a date with yourself. If you put it on your calendar for a scheduled time you are making a promise to yourself you will do it. To do lists are great, but only if you actually do them. If you are one of those people who put things on to do lists thinking, "One day..." STOP using to do lists! They don't work for you. They probably just represent a lot of stuff you feel you failed at accomplishing and it's counterproductive. Use your calendar and make a date with yourself.
5. Always remember you can do anything, but you can't do everything. Have realistic goals, create a plan of action and then do it!
And if you're reading this and think: "I should totally try this" actually do try it. I have so many clients and friends who ask for advice and then don't actually take it. If you really want to make a positive change in your life you have to actually start making the change. Change isn't always comfortable at first, but believe me, the outcome is always worth it.
Good luck! Contact me at: 646-831-9625 if you'd like to schedule a one-on-one private professional organizing or time management session by phone. You can make a difference in the way you're living your life by getting organized! If you live in the NYC area, you can schedule an at-home session with me. Good luck either way!
First, it's important to recognize this may be a habit you have. I know I can do this if I'm not paying attention to the task at hand. Once I got so excited after a feng shui for the bedroom course I took, I managed to start changing 4 different areas in my bedroom and hallway and managed to block the entryway. That was when I realized I had to stick to one corner/one task and then continue on to the next one or I would continue to get in my own way. Having a glass of wine while working on this project may have contributed to my blocking my entryway and starting too many projects at once, but it was a nice glass of wine and I don't regret it.
Many people find it difficult to concentrate on one task for a long period of time. Again, there are various reasons I won't get into, but to make sure you actually do get your work done and accomplish the goals you have set for yourself, there are tricks to help you stay on task.
1. Use a timer. Set it for 15 minutes or 30 minutes and do only one thing for that time period. You may not finish your task, but you will have a least gotten some of it done. Then you can start on something else or choose to continue with the task you started.
2. If even 15 minutes is too hard at first, try 5 minutes. The whole point is to start to work on something - even if it's 5 minutes of research for a paper or 5 minutes of sorting your mail, you've done at least 5 minutes!
3. Take baby steps - no one is expecting perfection right from the start and neither should you. If we all did things perfectly the first time out it would be boring and who likes boring?
4. Put it on your calendar! Make a date with yourself. If you put it on your calendar for a scheduled time you are making a promise to yourself you will do it. To do lists are great, but only if you actually do them. If you are one of those people who put things on to do lists thinking, "One day..." STOP using to do lists! They don't work for you. They probably just represent a lot of stuff you feel you failed at accomplishing and it's counterproductive. Use your calendar and make a date with yourself.
5. Always remember you can do anything, but you can't do everything. Have realistic goals, create a plan of action and then do it!
And if you're reading this and think: "I should totally try this" actually do try it. I have so many clients and friends who ask for advice and then don't actually take it. If you really want to make a positive change in your life you have to actually start making the change. Change isn't always comfortable at first, but believe me, the outcome is always worth it.
Good luck! Contact me at: 646-831-9625 if you'd like to schedule a one-on-one private professional organizing or time management session by phone. You can make a difference in the way you're living your life by getting organized! If you live in the NYC area, you can schedule an at-home session with me. Good luck either way!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
